Young and Young at Heart (The Rewrite of The Walking Dead Game: S2) [TWDG/TWD]

41. Only What You Have To

Clem and Sarah followed Byron to the other side of the warehouse. There Clem saw several more cargo containers neatly arranged in rows of two, each with an added chimney, much like the ones Cookie's kitchen had.

"That's where I used to live," Sarah whispered to Clem. "That red one on the end is where me and my dad used to sleep."

Byron approached Hector, who was standing in front of a shorter green container sitting apart from the rows of longer containers. Hector picked a key from his massive key ring and unlocked a pair of padlocks on the container. Byron stepped into the container and grabbed a broomstick leaning against the wall.

"Let me get the lights on before you lock it up." Byron took the broomstick and pushed a piece of metal off an opening cut into the ceiling. Watching from outside, Clem could see a section of metal had been hinged to the top of the container, like a hatch. She saw two more hatches swing open before Byron set the broomstick down. "All right, inside." Clem and Sarah stepped into the container. The door promptly slammed closed behind them, followed by some metal clicking.

"He's locking us in?" asked a nervous Sarah.

"Since it's a pain for Hector to constantly unlock and relock the lockers, and Bill doesn't trust anyone but Hector or himself with the keys, it's just easier to lock the whole room when someone is in here," explained Byron. "Don't worry, Hector will let us out when we're done."

Looking around the dimly lit container, Clem could see three tables laid out against one wall, each covered in plastic. Planted against the back wall were a couple of tall lockers, and a short safe to the side of them. Byron opened one of the lockers, inspected each rifle he had on his back, then placed them inside.

"What are we doing?" asked Clem.

"The three of us are going to clean some guns," explained Byron. "Now, you both remember rule number one of gun safety right?"

"The gun is always loaded," said Clementine.

"Good. Little subsection of that rule is anytime you pick up a gun that wasn't in your possession, you check to see if it's actually loaded." Byron sat down at one of the tables and picked up a small revolver that was sitting there. "For a revolver that's easy enough, just pop out the cylinder and look." Byron pressed a latch, allowing the cylinder to slide out. He held the gun at an angle where Clem and Sarah could see the chambers were all empty.

"Now you remember rule number two?" asked Byron.

"Don't point a gun at something you don't want to kill," said Sarah.

"Right, so even when you're cleaning a gun keep the barrel pointed away from anything you don't want shot. Also remember rule three, make sure it's also not pointing at something that may have someone behind it either." Byron set the revolver down.

"For self-loading pistols, you need to be a little more careful." Byron removed his own gun from his holster. "Remove the magazine first." Byron pressed the release and the magazine slid into his hand, which he set on the table. "Then pull the slide back to eject the round in the chamber if there is one." Byron pulled on the top of the gun, causing it to eject a single bullet.

"Then, look into the breach to be sure beyond any doubt the gun is in fact unloaded." Byron angled his pistol so Sarah and Clementine could see there was no bullet inside. "Got it?" Clem and Sarah nodded.

"All right." Byron loaded the single bullet back into the magazine, reloaded the gun, pulled back the slide, then placed the gun back in his holster. "Now, knowing what I just told you. I want you to inspect these two guns." Byron placed a pair of pistols on the table. Clem recognized them both. The revolver used to be Pete's, and the other gun used to be hers.